CBS News' Rita Braver: "Many women got their foot in the door by taking the worst jobs"

When "CBS Sunday Morning" national correspondent Rita Braver first started her career, she said she wanted to work for a newspaper but was told she didn't have enough experience. So she decided to look for a job in television or radio.

Braver told CBS News' Paula Reid she met a news director and begged for a job.

"I went home and I wrote them one of those letters that you write to people and finally he called a week later and said, 'Yeah, you can have the job. We can't find a guy who's going to take it for the money we're gonna pay,'" Braver said.

At the time, Braver said she was so excited to get the job, she didn't care.

"Many women got their foot in the door by taking the worst jobs, or taking lower pay," she said.

By 1972, Braver joined the Washington Bureau at CBS News as a news desk editor. Her first day at CBS was the day presidential candidate George Wallace was shot. She would go on to become the first female producer for the "CBS Evening News" in Washington and the first female law correspondent. She covered the Supreme Court and eventually the White House.

"Every time one of us got one of those jobs, it was kind of a click — that yes, this was a good thing," Braver said.

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Braver's accomplishments include winning nine national Emmy Awards, breaking the story of the Walker family spy ring and interviewing presidents. But her career path wasn't always a smooth one.

In her 20s, Braver said she was offered a job at another network. When she went to negotiate with the president of CBS News at the time, she told him how much money she wanted. In response, he told her, "But Rita, you're just a little girl."

Braver said now she is often asked how young women entering the job market can protect themselves. Her main piece of advice is to develop a "veneer."

"That doesn't mean you can't be feminine, and it doesn't mean that you can't be charming. But you have to develop a veneer that says, 'Do not mess with me,'" Braver said. "I think that young women have reason to be aware of this now. And the fact that more of them are aware of this going into the job market is going to mean they're going to develop strategies for dealing with it. So I have some hope for that in the future."